Japan's maglev train reaches 500 km/hr in public test run

A hundred lucky passengers experienced the thrill of lightning-fast travel aboard Japan's maglev (magnetic levitation) train, Mail online reported, as passengers applauded.

With the lucky 100 on board, the train made the first trial run between the cities of Uenohara and Fuefuki in the Yamanashi Prefecture

The train completed the 42.8 km trip touching speeds of up to 502 kilometres per hour.

Several passengers applauded and snapped pictures during record-breaking ride. They were filmed as they experienced their first super-fast ride with amazement and excitement write large on their faces.

Almost 300,000 people have applied for passes to experience the high-speed ride over eight days in December. A total of 2,400 people be would selected by lottery for the rides.

These trains 'float' above the tracks with magnetic levitation, and are even faster than Japan's bullet trains, which currently travel at 320 km/hr.

The maglev trains are expected to have 16 carriages and carry up to 1,000 passengers at a time.

On completion in 2027, travel time between Tokyo's Shinagawa Station and Nagoya would be cut by half to about 40 minutes, a journey which currently takes approximately 80 minutes.

Train fans have experienced the speed of super-fast maglev trains, during test runs for members of the public in central Japan.

One hundred passengers whizzed along a 42.8km (27 mile) route between the cities of Uenohara and Fuefuki, reaching speeds of up to 500km/h (311mph).

The Central Japan Railway Company, which along with the Railway Technical Research Institute of Japan Railway Group developed the maglev, is running eight days of testing for the experimental maglev Shinkansen train on its test track in Yamanashi Prefecture.